Israel retaliates after banquet hall attack

Israeli aircraft attacked a Palestinian security headquarters in the West Bank early today, killing at least one person, in retaliation for a deadly Palestinian shooting in a banquet hall in northern Israel.

Witnesses in the West Bank city of Tulkarm said F-16 warplanes fired missiles at the security compound. An Israeli military spokesman said aircraft had carried out the attack but he did not specify the type.

One policeman was killed and at least 18 people - 12 policemen and six civilians - were wounded, Palestinian hospital officials said.

In the northern Israeli city of Hadera yesterday, a Palestinian gunman burst into a packed banquet hall and sprayed revellers with automatic gunfire killing six people before police shot him dead.

The Al-Aqsa Brigades, attached to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said it carried out the attack to avenge the killing of one of its leaders on Monday.

"In response to recent terrorist attacks and the one last night in (the Israeli city) of Hadera, carried out by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military attacked the Palestinian security headquarters in Tulkarm," the spokesman said.

Arafat has been confined to the Israeli-encircled city of Ramallah since December after a series of Palestinian attacks against Isaraelis.

Israel vowed to "teach the Palestinian Authority a lesson they will not forget" after the Hadera attack, in which 33 people were also hurt when the gunman shot from an assault rifle at people celebrating a bat mitzva, marking a Jewish girl's 12th birthday.

He was forced outside by the crowd and shot by police, who put the death toll at seven including the attacker.

"A terrorist in dark clothes came in from the street...after a minute he ran into the hall and began to shoot at people who were sitting down, not at those who were dancing on the dance floor," a witness told Israeli Channel Two Television.

"Several young guys who saw him shooting ran at him with bottles and cans and threw it at his head while he was shooting, they hit him...then the police officer came and shot him five times in the head," the witness said.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades named the attacker as Abdel Salam Hassounah, 24, from a village near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

"I heard noise and thought it was fireworks. I saw a guy with an automatic weapon," Constantin Kardashov, the father of the girl being feted at the Armon David hall, told Reuters.

"My father, brother, cousin, and friend were all hit. How long can this situation last?"

Tables remained crammed with food and empty wine bottles. A picture of Nina, the girl being feted, stood at the head of one table, next to a water jug filled with flowers.

The attack followed a surge in bloodshed in the past week that ended a three-week lull in more than 15 months of violence since a Palestinian uprising began against Israeli occupation.

It was the heaviest death toll in any attack for a month - since a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings which prompted Arafat to order a truce on December 16 under heavy international pressure. Israel blamed Arafat for the new attack.

"Israel will not remain indifferent...we are going to respond in a manner which will teach the Palestinian Authority a lesson they will not forget," said Avi Pazner, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government.

The United States condemned the attack.

"There can be no tolerance for those who would act against the interests of the Palestinian people," deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in Washington.

"As leader of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Fatah, Chairman Arafat must take immediate action against those responsible for these acts and confront the infrastructure that perpetuates terror and violence," he added.

Police said the gunman was found with several ammunition clips on his body and an unexploded grenade.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said in a statement it carried out the attack to avenge the death of Raed al-Karmi, one of its leaders, in a bomb blast on Monday. It blames Israel for the blast although Israel has not said it killed Karmi.

"We have told you, cheap Zionists, this is what your Sharon and his extremist government have brought you. There will be more successful attacks that will plant fear in the hearts of the Zionist enemies. Revenge is coming," it said.

Israeli troops had also shot dead a member of the Brigades in an exchange of fire near Nablus early on Thursday.

Before the attack in Hadera, the Israeli army tightened blockades of five Palestinian towns, saying it wanted to prevent attacks. Palestinians call the blockades collective punishment.

At least 806 Palestinians and 246 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 after peace talks froze.

In earlier attacks on Hadera, a Palestinian blew himself up on a bus and killed three Israelis on November 29 last year. Car bombs there killed two people last May and two in November 2000.